smartass_captain

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Felix can hear his familiar's breath huffing as it scents the cold air, trying to track their quarry. They're 4approaching from downwind of the ruins; the trouble is, the dremora's been pacing round and round this ground for weeks already. The pungent scent of blood and brimstone is everwhere.

Even quiet as they're being, the ground is hard, the stonework around them quick to echo the tiny sounds of pebbles scattering from their feet. Their presence is soon noticed. Something living has dared to trespass in these dead half-buried streets, something that comes with the frantic beat of feeble mortal hearts. Prey at last...

There's a faint shing of scraping metal: the familiar's ears prick, and Felix's head turns with it as they try to trace the echoed sound to its source. It sounds so close, where is it, it could leap out at any moment-

The dremora has yet to announce its approach as it stalks closer, teeth bared eagerly. The first warning they'll get will be a sudden sharp whistle to their right, just a few seconds before their foe rounds the corner with vicious mace in hand. It's taller than any of them, encased in armor but for its head, the black plates spiking like thorny leaves at the joints. Its red and black face is twisted into a sneer. Felix orders his familiar forward about the same moment as it recognizes him.

"Wretched cur! This time will be your end!"

It charges in turn, barely slowed by the spectral wolf wheeling to snap at it before giving chase. Felix raises his blade to ward off the incoming blow. The force of it wrenches his shoulder as it shocks through bone and muscle.